Lunarpages vs FatCow: The Milky Way of Hosting

It is somewhat awkward to say it, but when the need for a reliable hosting provider arose, the quest for an optimal solution began with looking through numerous lists of more or less popular companies that have been in the field for quite a long time. The awkwardness stems from having to state how the two one of them that have made it into this article is called, as they could not have more whimsical names.

One of them is is Lunarpages, and the other one is FatCow. They could have been called LunarCow or Fatpages with no difference in meaning, since the name does not usually affect performance, but ignoring such an amusing similarity between them would be a mistake.

Lunarpages vs FatCow: What services do they provide?

Both companies have been in the industry for quite a long time: both FatCow and its space-themed counterpart were founded in 1998, so there is no advantage of having more experience than either of them could boast.

Both offer the standard set of services most hosting providers have nowadays. It includes shared hosting, VPS, dedicated hosting, and domains.

Lunarpages also offers a website builder, developer reseller hosting, web design services, and several add-ons that may be of use to those who want to host a commercial website, like fax to email, SecureLive, etc. Judging by their pricing and services, one can conclude that Lunarpages is more focused on businesses than small companies and individuals.

It is not clear which one is preferable if you need a personal page or a professional e-store, as both of them–theoretically–can provide you with everything you might need for either kind of websites.

Lunarpages vs FatCow: Which one is more affordable?

Since it is shared hosting that is the most popular service, and it’s just the thing we are looking for, let us take a look at what plans these companies offer.

Hosting plan B from outer space

Lunarpages’ shared hosting pricing starts at $3.95 a month. It’s not that much, but not that cheap, so it is definitely not another one-dollar player. There are two shared hosting plans, namely Starter Linux Hosting and Basic Linux Hosting. The former costs $3.95/mo, and the latter is $4.95/mo. The Starter plan is for those who do not expect any significant traffic whatsoever: 5 GB of storage, 1 FTP account, 50 GB bandwidth, and LPCP control panel. The Basic plan is somewhat more advanced, as it features a free domain, website builder, the opportunity to choose which control panel to use (LPCP or cPanel), and unlimited storage–well, “unlimited”, you know.

There is a disadvantage that is not easy to spot at first sight. For clients using Starter shared hosting services, their customer support is available only within working hours (those with dedicated servers or at least the Basic plan enjoy 24/7 service), so it can be considered a flaw, and only the Basic plan is worth considering, given how poor the Starter’s specs are.

Besides, you get a free domain only if you pay for the year in advance, and you get it for your first year. If you pay monthly, the price skyrockets to $10.95/mo. The advertised low price of $4.95 applies only if you pay for 10 years in advance. Doesn’t sound that good.

Dairy Deals

It costs $4.08/mo and features unlimited–ahem!–bandwidth, a free domain name, website builder, SSL secure server, 24/7 customer support, and 30 days money guarantee, as well as some other ingredients. Again, to get a free domain, you have to pay annually. Their renewal price is indicative of FatCow’s greed–which probably explains its fatness. The monthly renewal rate is the whopping $14.95, and the advertised $4.08 price is applicable only until your first promo month expires.

Well, in terms of affordability, Lunarpages appears to be a slightly better option (if we turn a deaf ear to their upsells), and so it wins the round.

Lunarpages vs FatCow: What about performance?

According to hrank.com, within the last 90 days, both companies have not had serious performance issues in terms of uptime and response.

Lunarpages uptime

FatCow uptime

As to the response, Lunarpages definitely outperforms FatCow, as the former is way faster. See for yourself.

Lunarpages response

FatCow response

And the winner is Lunarpages. Again.

What about reputation?

Well, both companies have a tarnished reputation. Reportedly, both have poor customer support, there may be technical issues, and occasional problems, like deletion of files, can also occur. It is impossible to choose one judging by the reviews available on the Internet: they are either paid or mixed, so they should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Conclusion

Well, since there has to be some conclusion, it is evident that Lunarpages is slightly better in terms of affordability and performance (especially response times). Besides, they have Sony and other major companies among their clients which can possibly be another advantage to some.

Still, there is always room for improvement, and in the case of Lunarpages and FatCow, there are planets and fields for that.